Until the Very End
by MidnightCatastrophe
Summary: James and Lily didn't fall in love instantly. Now that they are engaged, they remember their changing relationship over the last seven years. As Lily struggles to decide if she is ready for marriage, she sees the only person who could change her mind.
1. The Engagement

It was early June in the end of Lily's seventh year at Hogwarts - Graduation day to be exact. Lily was strolling along the school grounds with James, trying to permanently stamp in her mind the place that had led her to him, and had been her true home for seven years. They had been walking aimlessly, retelling stories and replaying memories as they were reminded of them. There was only one place they had not said goodbye to. Both wanted to save it for last, as it held the happiest memories of the last seven years: memories of eachother.

James wrapped his arm around her waist as they entered. It was only a tiny patch of forest with an even smaller clearing, but it meant so much to the two of them. James had brought Lily here for the first time when they started dating early in their seventh year. They had shared their first kiss here and many afterwards. It was the perfect place to be alone together, since only Lily and the Marauders knew about it.

Lily sat down on a rock and slipped off her shoes and socks. When James sat next to her, she slid her feet into the river that snaked its way through the forest. He tucked a strand of soft, auburn hair behind her ear as she drew hearts with her toes in the cool water, sending ripples across their reflections.

"Lily, I love you," James whispered, staring into her emerald eyes.

She smiled at him and leaned in for a kiss.

"I wish I could tell you that every day for the rest of my life," He murmured against her lips.

"No one's stopping you."

Lily smiled sweetly and caught his lips in her own. Several minutes later, James slowly pulled away, reaching into the deep pockets of his school robes.

"Not anymore."

He held his hand out towards her and uncurled his fingers, revealing a small, velvet box. Lily gasped as he opened it. Inside was a ring. The diamond was small; James knew that Lily would have refused anything bigger, and had emeralds the exact color of her eyes on either side of it.

"Lily," James reached toward her and grasped her hand. He slowly lowered himself on one knee. "I want to spend the rest of my life by your side. I never want there to be a single day that we're apart. Lily, will you marry me?"

Unable to speak, Lily simply nodded. James slid the white gold ring on her finger, it fit perfectly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. With his arms looped around her waist, Lily regained her voice.

"I can't think of anything more perfect than spending every minute of the rest of my life with you," She said honestly.

Lily wished for time to freeze. She wanted this moment to last forever, but as she prayed fervently for time to slow down, it only sped up. Their time left at Hogwarts was dwindling, their last moments drifting away. Before they knew it, it was time to board Hogwarts Express for the last time.

As Head Boy and Girl, James and Lily had to patrol the corridors for the first hour. They dumped their trunks in the usual compartment, where Sirius, Remus, and Peter would soon join them. James watched her for a moment as she stacked her bags next to his, before grabbing her waist and pulling her close to him. Her fingers released their grasp on her bag, and Lily let it fall to the floor, freeing her arms which she then wrapped around his neck.

"Sirius and Remus are coming back to my place after we get back to London," James whispered. "I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind one more guest, especially their new daughter-in-law. Care to come, Mrs. Lily Potter?"

Lily smiled back at his flirty grin.

"When I told my parents I was going to be staying with friends, who did you think I meant? Of course I'm coming!" She said. "Lily Potter," She considered. "I like the way that sounds."

She brought her lips to his, letting all of the longing in her heart seep into the kiss.

The compartment door screeched open. Their hopes that it was only a First Year who would leave immediately, embarrassed at interrupting them were dashed when they heard Remus' chuckle and Sirius' voice.

"Aren't you two supposed to be setting an example?" Sirius joked. Lily and James pulled away reluctantly.

"Snogging in empty compartments when you're supposed to be making sure First Years don't accidentally transfigure themselves like last year – is that any way for Head Girl and Boy to act?"

"Saying as you were the one that transfigured that poor First Year, I don't think our example is exactly scandalous in comparison," Lily teased.

"And I don't think the First Years have much to worry about if Remus is here to keep you from pointing your wand at them," James added, his arms still around his fiancé.

"James, we really should start patrolling now, though."

James sighed. "I suppose."

"See you in an hour?"

James nodded in agreement. Lily smiled and placed one quick kiss on his cheek before striding out the door.

"Care to elaborate on that, James?" Lupin asked knowingly, smirking and nodding in the direction from which Lily had just disappeared.

"Yes, James. Please, do tell," Sirius prodded.

James knew that Sirius and Remus could probably guess what he had asked Lily, even though he never said a word about marriage to either of them before. But he knew that Lily would want to be there when they told their best friends, so he played dumb.

"What? She's my girlfriend – since when am I not allowed to kiss her?"

James turned on his heel and darted out the door before Sirius or Remus could say another word. Once in the hall of the train, he allowed his thoughts to stray back to Lily. He thought of her emerald eyes that sparkled like stars when she laughed, her scarlet hair, and the first time he had laid eyes on her.

It was on the Hogwarts Express, going to school in their first year. He had been sitting with a boy he had just met, Sirius, when she walked by looking for an empty compartment. James ran after her and invited her to sit in his compartment. She accepted, but James couldn't help noticing the tears in her eyes as she sat down and stared out the window. A few minutes later, a greasy haired boy shoved the compartment door open. Lily's head jerked around at the sudden bang and turned back around in disgust once she saw who was standing in front of her. The boy sat next to her, they exchanged harsh whispers. It was obvious he had done something to upset her, and James immediately despised him for hurting this beautiful girl who looked like she wouldn't hurt a fly.

Sirius, always liking a good laugh, tried to cheer her up with a few jokes. He made fun of the boy when he expressed his desire to be in Slytherin; James scoffed at him, hoping he would leave Lily alone and sit somewhere else. Instead, Lily came to his defense.

"Come on, Severus. Let's try to find another compartment," Lily raged at them and stomped away with Snape in tow just behind her.

James found himself enthralled by her passion and courage. He wanted to find out more about her – she was a challenge, and he was determined to win.

Lily was pacing up and down the halls; occasionally she stopped and stared at her left hand. Part of her couldn't believe that he had actually asked her to marry him. Another part of her couldn't believe she had actually said yes. But she knew that she loved him, and that was enough for her.

She loved him. She loved James Potter!

Seven years ago, if someone had told her by the time she graduated Hogwarts, she would fall in love with, nevermind be engaged to, James Potter, she would have laughed in their face. Now, she couldn't imagine life without him.

It was amazing how much James had changed over the last seven years, and how much her feelings had changed for him. She thought back, remembering the first day of her seventh year at Hogwarts.


	2. Romeo, Juliet and a Necklace

Was this some kind of sick joke? It _had_ to be. Dumbledore would never make James Potter, of all people, Head Boy. Remus Lupin was supposed to be Head Boy. After all, he had been Gryffindor prefect for the last two years and had never caused an ounce of trouble, unless you count not being able to keep Sirius and James in line as trouble.

Still, it was James, not Remus, who was sitting across from her in the Head's common room. She would have much rather shared a common room with Remus. He had seemed so caring and kind, and had always listened to her problems when she needed someone to talk to. Lily had often wondered why he would want to be friends with people like James and Sirius who prided themselves on holding the record for the highest amount of detentions a student has ever received in the history of the school.

Lily glanced up from her book and stared in disgust as James released his grip on a snitch. He let it flit about for a moment, effortlessly catching it before it got more than an arm's length away. He took his fingers off of it again, and repeated this pattern with a satisfied grin on his face. Lily wondered just how big his ego could get before he actually exploded from the size of it.

James seemed to feel her eyes on him and looked up. Lily's eyes darted back to the book she pretended she had never stopped reading.

"What'cha reading?" James asked nosily.

Lily answered, against her better judgments. He would think it was stupid and would probably never let her hear the end of it.

"A muggle play, by Shakespeare. It's called "Romeo and Juliet".

James slipped the snitch into his pocket and sat next to her on the maroon and gold leather couch.

"What's it about?"

Lily took a deep breath, buying time to try to find a way to explain it that James would be able to wrap his tiny brain around.

"The Montague's and the Capulet are worst enemies, whose children meet and fall in love regardless of their differences. They have to hide their love and are forced to meet in secret, because their families would never allow them to be together. Juliet makes a plan to pretend she is dead, once she is believed to be dead, she is free to be with Romeo far away, and neither of their families will ever know."

Lily stopped, waiting for James to torture her for being that much of a romantic. To her disbelief, he asked her to go on.

"Romeo is unaware of this plan, so he sees Juliet's seemingly lifeless body and poisons himself, knowing he can't live without her. When Juliet wakes up and sees Romeo dead, she stabs herself with his sword, because…her life's not living without him beside her."

Lily and James sat in silence for a long time. Lily was beginning to believe James was so bored by the whole thing that he had just given up listening and hadn't noticed that she stopped talking. She glanced at the clock beside her and jumped up.

"James! We should have been patrolling the corridors twenty minutes ago," she cried.

James still didn't speak when they left their common room and walked along the hallways. After at least 10 minutes of complete silence, Lily could not take it anymore.

"What have you been thinking about this entire time?" She asked bluntly.

James jumped at the sound of her voice. In truth, he had been thinking about Romeo and Juliet and how they had rather died than face life without the other, but for the last 5 minutes, the only topic on his mind was Lily's lips – although he was most certainly not going to tell her that. She had already made it quite clear that she had no interest in him, and he did not need her to remind him of that.

"Nothing," he lied.

Lily turned her head sideways and looked at him, smiling smugly, while he pointedly avoided meeting her gaze.

"You've been thinking about "Romeo and Juliet" this entire time, haven't you?"

James didn't reply.

"The high and mighty James Potter is just as much of a sap as the rest of us! Admit it, you think it's romantic," Lily accused.

James opened and closed his mouth several times to say something, but nothing came out. He needed to get off the subject of romance and get Lily's lips off his mind before he completely lost it. He asked the first question that popped into his mind.

"So what's the story about that necklace, anyway?" James tried to keep his voice even, and not make it completely obvious that his heart was racing.

"What necklace?" Lily looked away. Of all things, why did he have to ask her about that necklace?

"uh…The one around your neck…"

Lily looked down, feigning surprise.

"Oh! _This _necklace. I didn't even remember I was wearing it today!"

James paused. Why was she lying to him?

"…Lily. You wear that necklace every day," James said carefully. Lily slipped the necklace inside her robes, but said nothing.

"Mary said you never take it off. She says you even sleep and shower in it."

Lily stopped dead in her tracks.

"Since when do you talk to Mary? Since when do you talk to my best friend about _me_?"

She pretended she hadn't heard the "sleeping and showering in it" part – she wasn't sure how she felt about him thinking about her that way.

James' cheeks colored.

"We weren't talking about you. You just…came up," James replied feebly.

She studied his face.

"Who are you?" She asked quietly. This was not the James she knew. The James she knew was loud, arrogant and obnoxious. He loved to show off, and often did. He flaunted, strutting about the school with his stupid snitch in his hand and that ridiculous hair in his face.

This James was quieter, more serious. He cared about "Romeo and Juliet" and actually listened when she talked. He was most certainly not strutting and for the first time had seemed, vulnerable. Maybe she was wrong about James…


End file.
